Some classroom applications of current ideas on conceptual learning in science

Conclusion Evidence collected so far seems to substantiate the contention that the constructivist approach to teaching has assisted students in their ability to interact with and internalize scientific concepts. The meanings attached to these concepts has become personalized in accordance with the learner's level of cognitive development. The question of intellectual growth is less decisive in the absence of more extensive long term studies. From the teaching point of view this method is both interesting and rewarding, providing an opportunity to reflect on and evaluate a personalized construct for conceptual learning.     

Coloured overlays,visual discomfort,visual search and classroom reading

Forty-six children aged 12–16 were shown a page of meaningless text covered in random order by different plastic overlays, including seven that were various colours and one that was clear. By successive pairwise comparison each child selected the overlay that provided the greatest perceptual clarity of the text. The children with below-average reading ability were more likely to chose a coloured overlay, and they reported more perceptual difficulty on tasks devised by Irlen (1983). In separate sessions with and without the overlay of their choice, the children read for 15 minutes and performed a visual search task. The overlay had little effect on reading initially, but after about 10 minutes the children who chose a coloured overlay read more slowly without the overlay than with it. These children reported more symptoms of visual discomfort and showed signs of tiring when they read without the overlay. The visual search performance of the children who chose a coloured overlay was initially impaired but improved to normal levels when the overlay was used. Fourteen children aged 8–16 acted as chronological or reading age-matched controls, and undertook the reading and visual search tasks using a clear overlay which had no effect on performance.     

Team Effort – Training Therapists to Work with Interpreters as a Collaborative Team

This paper considers components of a framework for relational training for counsellors who work with interpreters. Where counsellors and clients cannot be linguistically matched, they will need to incorporate an interpreter into their therapeutic relationship. Counsellors are often unprepared to work in this way. ‘Mothertongue multi-ethnic counselling service’, a UK counselling agency has developed and piloted an in-house training for counsellors and interpreters. Components of this training in how to work collaboratively with interpreters are considered in this paper. These components address the need for a collaborative relationship between counsellor and interpreter, consideration of dynamics in a triangular relationship and a clear delineation of responsibilities. Recommendations are made for the development of a training curriculum and models of clinical supervision for counsellors and interpreters who want to work together collaboratively.     

A Competency‐Based Study of Academic Staff Development Needs

The role of Australian academics is undergoing a period of rapid change as the Federal Government attempts to restructure both the higher education system and the economy. With these changes in role comes a need for the continuing professional development of academics. This paper gives details of a study which adopted a competency‐based approach to identify the job requirements, skill‐deficiencies and training needs of one group of Australian academics. This group ‐ staff from the Business faculties of (former) Colleges of Advanced Education ‐ is of particular interest because its members are experiencing uncommonly rapid growth and change. In general, the respondents tended to rate (a) teaching skills as more important than research skills, (b) their own teaching skills as more highly developed than their research competencies, and (c) their desire for training as greatest with respect to several specific research skills. Some potential barriers to the successful implementation of professional development programmes are discussed.     

Measuring the research experience of research postgraduate students in Hong Kong

To date, there has been little research in non-Western contexts exploring the research experience of research higher degree (RHD) students and the effect of research experience on student outcomes. The purposes of this study were to validate the Student Research Experience Questionnaire (SREQ) developed in Australia in the Hong Kong context and to explore the relationships between student research experiences and their perceived skill development and overall satisfaction with their research degree experiences. Data were collected from 599 RHD students. The results supported the construct validity of four SREQ scales (supervision, infrastructure, intellectual climate and skill development). The results of the structural equation modelling suggested that supervision related to students' perceived skill development and overall satisfaction, while intellectual climate and infrastructure were related to overall satisfaction only. The data provide a better understanding of how we can promote positive learning outcomes of RHD students.     

Homesickness as a construct of the migrant experience

This paper is an exploration of the concept of homesickness and the migrant's relation to the idea of home. It draws on the writer's personal experience of Caribbean migration—discussing different phases and facets in the evolution of the construct that includes notions of essence and hybridity. It suggests how a return to ‘home’ and roots can broaden the understanding of what it means to inhabit the modern world—and also help in the continuous process of reconstructing identity.     

By Comparison: A Procession of Incomes. What Do You Really Mean?

The Family Expenditure Survey provides details of household incomes. This article looks at income distribution afresh and what is meant by the mean.